#production tips

I wrote last week about adding it to your budget because you must have it. Shop around for your insurance and purchase what you need.

I received one quote and it was general liability, but it did not cover the equipment we’re renting. The insurance would have covered the space we’re renting, injuries, props and a few other things. The equipment? Nope.

Another quote was higher and covered the equipment, but it was only for the short period of time we’re shooting. That would have been fine but I received a third quote.

The third quote is for a year and covers all of the equipment. If I want to shoot something else during the period covered, I can do that and not have to worry about paying for additional insurance.

Happy birthday to Jay Z and always rest in peace to Pimp C 🙏 I found myself listening to some old music on my hard drive and ran across this sample. Tell me you think asap! I still have to add transitions etc. Shout out to @seratosample Day 4

Grab your 🎧 and press ▶

Instagram 👉 mrsolowkey

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Producing music can be such a mind game. It’s so easy to get caught up in the process and lose your way from the original vision, and end up in a place that you’re not happy with or that you didn’t intend to (although the former can sometimes lead to great things).

One thing that happens frequently is that we end up spending too much time on our music, and we reach a point where we can’t improve the sound anymore. It’s a bad spot to be in as you’re no longer excited about the song, you’re not making any meaningful contributions to it, and it’s chances of never getting released increase.

So, let’s make sure we don’t get into a rut like that. So what’s the easiest solution??? Move fast. It’s incredible how well this works. Let’s look at why. 

Retain Perspective

This is the most important reason why working fast in productions is essential. You’re more easily able to keep the right frame of mind while working. I’m sure we’ve all been working on something for too long, and then that moment hits you where you can’t tell if the song is good or not. You might as well stop there, as for the most part, you’re fundamentally incapable of making critical decisions until you’ve taken a break at the very least. Now you’re just changing the song, not necessarily improving it.

This can happen on a much more micro scale as well, especially if you’re producing music that has synthetic elements. Let me give you an example, let’s pretend you’re in dire need of an awesome synth sound for your production. You have the sound in your head, and it’s got to be that one. So, you open up your favorite synth plugin and go to town. You go through every preset, you tweak every knob, and you just can’t get that sound. Then you move onto your 2nd favorite plugin and do the same. After all of that, you killed two hours trying to find the perfect synth sound. And you know what probably happened in that time? You don’t even remember what you were looking for.

It’s funny how when we restrict ourselves to a certain amount of time, the creativity comes out much easier. When it comes to things like tones of instruments, they become part of the overall sound, and you develop that by making tonal decisions on top of each other. What do I mean by that? I mean that the tone of the drums you selected might not feel right at the time, but it’s when you find that bass tone in the next step that works perfectly with those drums that you begin to love the drums. Focus on making tones work together rather than individually sounding awesome.

When we move fast in our productions, we remained focussed, we retain perspective, and the quality of our work improves. 

Get More Music Out

One of the biggest challenges for bands/artists/producers etc. is having enough content. In today’s world, your career depends on you constantly releasing new material, whether that is music, photos, social media content, live shows, etc. You have to stay in the public eye to be relevant.

So, an unintended benefit from moving fast is that you have more content! In this case, more music. As an artist, it takes you less time to make a new record, which helps you get your career onto the next stages, such as touring, marketing, and release. As a producer, we all know that our portfolio is our biggest advertisement. Most of the potential artists that we will work with will hear our past work somewhere else, and then come to us. So, getting more music out makes our organic reach that much larger and more effective! This leads to more artists, which leads to more songs, and on and on. 

Intuition

There’s a lot of neuroscience research that suggests that the human brain’s ability to make split second decisions often far outweighs a more deliberate thought. Think about it, we often know whether we can trust someone within a couple seconds of meeting them, or we can sense a friend or foe almost instantly. This derives from our primal brain as the human race was developing. Our ancestors had to develop the neural centers to make quick decisions, such as to run or not, and therefore surviving or not.

So let’s use this to our advantage. Our intuition is often a good choice to go with. So when you’re working on a production, trust your gut. When you find yourself saying things like, “Is this the right sound? I don’t know, it might be but it not might be,” then remember what you thought the moment you heard it and go with that. This again will reduce your decision making time and ultimately improve the quality of each decision. 

Learn By Repetition 

I read about this one alot. In any specialized field, we often try to figure out a new technique by trying it once with everything we got. We sit down and bang our heads against the wall, not seeming to get any closer. But maybe that’s not how it works.

Let me give an example. Let’s say I’m learning how to use parallel compression properly. If I sit down at my Pro Tools rig and use parallel compression for the next 36 hours straight without sleeping or stopping, I’m still not going to be more proficient with it than I would be if I used it for 1 hour per day for 36 days straight. In fact, I would argue that you will be less effective, as you will have diminishing returns in your mental capacity.

So move quick and don’t worry if you didn’t quite achieve the thing you were going for. There’s always another song, and you will get there faster by simply moving forward.

I hope that helps convince you why you should move fast through your productions. If you have any more ideas on getting productions done faster and at a higher quality, please comment below!

Here are some reading resources to check that relate to these topics:

The War Of Art - Stephen Pressfield Blink: The Power Of Thinking Without Thinking - Malcom Gladwell

Click here to get free shipping on these books with Amazon Prime!

Cheers! Brad

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Brad is the owner/founder of Velveteen Audio. He produces with the duo Towers and plays in his own project called Optics.

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The focus of this article isn't about gear or techniques on how to record, but rather about some of the other things that are associated with the recording process. Some of these may seem like common sense, but often can be overlooked because everyone's focus gets pulled into some of the many technical details during recording (which are still very important). The end result is affected by every single aspect of the recording process, so these are a few details that should not be overlooked, and will ultimately improve the end result of your recording.

1. PRE-PRODUCTION

This one may seem quite obvious, and is commonly talked about, but it really cannot be stressed enough. Proper pre-production will SUBSTANTIALLY improve your recording. Everyone will do it a little bit differently, and every project you encounter may not need the same amount of pre-production, but it still needs to be done. This may include working on the songs with the artist doing arrangement improvements, lyrical adjustments, or bigger changes such as rewriting or adding parts in, or changing the key to better suit the singer's range. The most important thing is that by the end of pre-production, everyone knows the song, and knows what parts they are going to record, and have practiced those parts. Recording is still a creative process, so pre-production doesn't necessarily mean that the song is 100% done when you go into record. There always should be room for spontaneity and trying new things in the studio, but the songs should be at the very least 90% there when you go into the recording studio. When everyone knows (and practices) their parts, and has a good idea for the final vision of the project, parts are played with more confidence which leads to better takes and a more efficient studio session, which makes everyone feel better about the process.

2. VOCAL LESSONS

It might seem like I'm singling out singers here, but this does apply to other players as well. The reason I'm focusing on singers is that it really is the most important part of most recordings. It is often the most powerful emotional connection that listeners relate to when they hear music, so it needs to be treated as such. As a producer, it is a really good idea to recommend, or even have it as part of a contract and include it in the budget, that the singer takes vocal lessons for a decent period of time before coming into record. It is also a good idea to know a well trained vocal coach that you trust, that understands the recording process themselves, and will be able to work with the singer directly with the songs that are being recorded. Focusing on things like proper pronunciation and lyrical rhythm, pitch control, vocal health, and proper warm-ups before tracking. Most times there is a good chance that singers either have already taken lessons or are already taking lessons, which is great. However, it's still a good idea to have them see the vocal coach that you trust, as it will make sure that they are focusing on the right things. Sometimes it can be a bit of a touchy subject, as you don't want to imply that a singer is not prepared, not good enough, etc. But approach it more as just a regular part of the recording process for any artist, regardless of performance level, which really should be the case. It is a great way of getting the singer prepared, focused properly, and excited to get into the studio and nail the parts. Since I have started doing this, I have a noticed a big difference in performance in pretty much every singer that I have worked with, regardless of ability. With some that are less experienced, it gives them confidence and tools that they can continue to use over the course of their career. For those that are already experienced singers, it's a good brush up on skills and forces them to put focus into being prepared for recording.

3. STUDIO VIBE

The overall vibe of the studio setting can play a pretty big roll in how people feel about their recording session. No one wants to come into an office type atmosphere to record their creative work, right? Every studio is a little bit different, but there are always things you can do to make a studio feel a little bit more comfortable, if need be. To me, lighting is a huge deal. For setting up, plugging things in, adjusting mics, getting sounds, etc. bright lights are usually needed to see well and to work properly…. But when tracking starts, I hate "working" lights, they kill the vibe for me. I am a huge fan of things like the coloured Phillips Hue lighting system, lava lamps, Christmas lights, etc. Lower lighting, and fun lighting can really help people get into the headspace they need to be in to record properly. Dimmer lights can calm nerves down, as people feel a little bit less "on the spot" when it comes to tracking, and confidence goes up. It's a small thing that actually can make a substantial difference in performance and session efficiency. It also helps to make sessions more fun, which is ideally how all studio sessions should feel. Plus it's a way to inspire a bit of creativity! If a session starts to get a bit stale and frustrating, try changing around the vibe…. change lights, rearrange some studio decor, adjust the atmosphere… it may actually lead to a bit of spark in creativity because you are exposing your senses to something new.

4.  ATTITUDE

Studio sessions can often lead to long days that can sometimes be frustrating when things aren't going ideally as planned. Keeping a positive and supportive attitude as a producer is huge for artist moral. Music is a very emotive creativity, and emotions can sometimes get the best of people when they are put under the microscope of recording. Being supportive and staying positive will help calm artists down if their emotions are flaring up, or if their confidence is not at it's best. Sometimes it can even be as simple as knowing when to take a break and just have a calm, supportive talk. It could also involve knowing when to call off a session and reschedule, but doing so in a way that is not degrading to the artist and their confidence. You almost never will get what you want out of an artist when they are frustrated, angry, or feeling down about their abilities. Sometimes all it takes is a nights sleep and a new day. No one wants to spend a full day wasting time in the studio knowing they won't get what is needed. It's not your job as a producer to be a "councilor" of sorts, but it really does help to know how to read people's emotional state, and how to deal with people in a supportive manner. When artists feel good and are having fun, often this is when the best takes come out.

5. DISTRACTIONS

It seems like these days a lot of people are quite busy, and with the use of smartphones and social media, there are a lot of distractions that make their way into a studio session. For things to go smoothly, these distractions need to be minimized. To get the best takes out of artists, everyone, including the producer, needs to be focused on the task at hand. Smartphones can be a useful tool in the studio for things like quickly searching for a rhyme for a lyric, or bringing up an example of another recording to show to someone, etc. As amazing as they are, they also can easily distract people and halt progress during a session. I generally have a rule that you treat being in a studio session like a job (artist included), because really it is. To me, this means things like having your phone on silent, and only answering calls/texts when its an emergency, or during a break. If your phone is out, it means you are using it as a tool to help a session, not playing games or using it as a distraction. Another fairly common distraction in the studio, is having too many people in the room during tracking. Studios can be fun and exciting, so people and band mates like to hang out and be present during sessions. If everyone is extremely quiet, sometimes this can be okay… but often if there's a bunch of people hanging out in the control room, it can distract whoever is trying to focus on their performance. It can also feel like the performer is being put on the spot in front of everyone, and may feel intimidating, like there's a whole room of people judging their takes. This especially rings true with singers,  because headspace is EXTREMELY important when trying to get the best, and often most emotional, takes. As a general rule, I don't allow any other band members to be present during a vocal tracking session, unless the singer absolutely needs them there. The artist should trust you as a producer to know how to get the best takes out of the singer, and part of this is creating a personal bond between you and the singer. Other people being present can distract from this, which often leads to the singer not feeling fully confident of their abilities. To wrap things up… music production is an art form itself, just like the music is. Every producer will have their own way of going about the process. The important thing is to not overlook the little stuff, as the entire production is a sum of all it's parts, regardless of how small they might seem. Hopefully you find some of these tips useful towards making some of your own killer sounding recordings! Thanks for reading! Nathan

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Nathan is a producer, musician, and one half of the award-winning production team Method Music Productions. Some of the artists he has produced include Olivia Rose and Order of Chaos.

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DiD Associate Project Manager, Hannah Dyson, recently listened to a webinar by the author of Why Simple Wins, Lisa Bodell, titled, "Why Simple Wins - Free Up Your Day and Do the Work that Matters Most” hosted by the PA Conference for Women.  

She discovered a few helpful tips to simplify your day and spend less time doing things that don’t add value to your clients or to your company.

3 Key Takeaways:

1. Lose the perception that if you're removing things from the process, you're losing something.

Example: Unnecessary meetings

2. Simplification isn't just about minimizing; it's important to make things clearer, more streamlined, and accessible.

Example: Status format options (hot sheets and standups vs. longer format spreadsheets)

3. Technology is a double-edged sword; it has helped us create simplicity, however, it doesn't mean we should always use it. Embrace it, but know when enough is enough.!

Example: Google Doc overload or the inability to keep up with your email inbox!

If an email communication is going back and forth more than 2-3 times, have a face-to-face chat with the team to align with the direction moving forward more quickly.

3 Things You Can Start Doing Today:

1. In an effort to differentiate between meaningless and meaningful work, list all of the things you do in a week. Associate each task with a value and a timeframe (how much time you spend doing it). If you find you're spending little time on something that adds a lot of value, and a lot of time on something that adds little value, it might be time to shift your priorities.

2. Create a T-chart. On the left side, write down 20 things you do during the day. Then circle the things that are meaningful and move the business forward. The author of "Why Simple Wins," Lisa Bodell, found that most people circle very few things. On the right side, write down things you wish you could be doing and/or things you find most meaningful.

3. Getting too many emails? Start adding "NRN" (no reply needed) to the subject line of emails that don't require a response. It was tested at Merck and their emails were cut down by 18%! Who wouldn’t love that?

Fun Fact: More than 100 BILLION emails are sent and received worldwide each day!